pdrfandomcom-20200214-history
Email chain that started the wiki idea
Hi Everyone, I am in charge of our Continued Participation Agreement (CPA) program, for students who have been suspended but are trying to come back and be successful. In the past, I have instituted a mandatory appointment system, in which the students would be required to meet individually with me every other week. This has been terribly unsuccessful, unfortunately, because students don’t come to see me, and it takes a tremendous amount of time to track them down. So this year, I’ve decided to shake it up a bit by instituting mandatory discussion groups throughout the semester. Students will be required to attend an orientation two weeks prior to the term start, as well as one every few weeks during the semester. My aim is to hold them on different topics, like locus of control, time management, and study skills. They will meet with me and with other CPA students, as well as peer mentors (hopefully). My question, then, is if any of you have lesson plans or a curriculum for this kind of setup. Every one of these students will have taken or will be taking our first year seminar, so I’m trying to figure out how to do something that doesn’t duplicate that curriculum, but covers similar material. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Beth Velletri Coordinator of Advising Great Bay Community College I am interested in discussion groups as well. I too have tried meeting with students every other week and it doesn’t work because they stop showing up and we have nothing to in place to make them do it. We have toyed with the idea of partnering with Counseling Services to offer discussion groups on various topics. Through academic self assessments that we give probation students, I’ve realized that many of the students could have had a successful semester, but it’s been issues such as time management, motivation, co-dependent behavior, and family/interpersonal problems that most often keep them from reaching their academic goals. I would love to hear of ideas and topics that other colleges have used for this purpose. I’ve tried internet research with no luck. Rhonda Smith Academic Advisor Office of Freshman Advising University of Baltimore Hey Beth and Rhonda, I am writing to both of you instead of the larger listserv because I was not sure if my experience pertains to this idea specifically. However, I am an Academic Coach at Colorado State University, and I advise students on academic probation specifically. Over the past 3 semesters, I have recruited 3 different cohorts of 40 students on academic probation to participate in an 8 week probation workshop series I created with one of my colleagues. The program has had success in comparison to the success rates of the students on academic probation in the general population. However, it wasn’t until this past semester that we really made what we considered to be a breakthrough in group dynamics. Up until last semester, the weekly workshops were difficult to present at because students did not know each other well, and they were ashamed of their academic performance in the past. The addition we made to the program was a half-day ropes course event. I know it might sound crazy, and it can get expensive, but we contacted our campus recreation office and explained the goals and needs for our program. Within an hour at the ropes course, all the students knew each other by name, set personal and academic goals, and pushed themselves to overcome their fears. Further, it gave each student a chance to express past frustrations, and the overall ideal that their GPA was not a reflection of who there were as a person/student. The lasting effects of this addition to the program included higher retention rates over the 8 week span, a much better group environment each week, etc. Unfortunately, our success rates within the class were not as high as they were in past semesters, but that could be attributed to the fact that we had a larger number of students complete the program out of our original cohort of 40 than ever before. Long story short, a ropes course experience might create the group environment that you are both hoping for in your programs. It has the potential to create peer bonds and peer accountability, which could be more powerful than what we can do with students who are lacking motivation or struggling with personal issues in my opinion. I hope this helped and please feel free to contact me with questions. Chris Bryson Academic Coach Center for Advising & Student Achievement - Outreach & Support Programs There is a book by Skip Downing called On Course that covers these topics and has great activities and a website as well. Students tend to enjoy the activities. They do improve, although I’m not sure we can save all students. Sometimes they don’t learn what they need to in time. There is some research on his website about student improvement using his methods. See what you think. -Kathy Jensen Academic Advisor Gateway Programs (formerly Student Success Center) University of Toledo I’ve not followed this strand completely, but just want to say a few quick words about On Course. We are not currently using it as an assigned text, but I went to one of their training workshops in 2008 and was thoroughly impressed. Observations: · On Course digs beneath the surface as to why students (or any of us) aren’t maximizing our opportunities, as opposed to just telling students what to do. It helps us discover why we’re not doing the things we should, and helps us to do those things. · As mentioned by others in this strand, the suggested activities are challenging, interesting, and non-cheesy. · The creator of On Course, Skip Downing, was about as ego-free as anyone I’ve encountered in the field. Instead of pushing his own program exclusively and insisting his ideas were new and better than anyone else’s, I found him to be realistic, down to earth, open to mixing his material with yours. He genuinely cares about students (all of us) succeeding. Rarely have I gone to a two day event where I felt like nearly every hour was worthwhile, but the On Course conference was just solid all the way through. Doug Renalds Assistant Director Student Success Center University of Tennessee